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The GLBTAA was formed in June, 1997 by a small group of strong, visionary individuals and has since been supported by many committed members, leaders and IUAA staff. All have worked tirelessly to continue fulfilling the GLBTAA important mission of improving "the quality of life for GLBT students, faculty, staff and alumni of Indiana University on all eight campuses." Each year the GLBTAA builds on that historical vision and commitment. Thank you! With your continued support, we can continue to build on our 17-year legacy.
Mike Shumate, GLBTAA President
[email protected]
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1. GLBTAA Scholarship Campaign
Please continue to "spread the word" about our ground-breaking Campaign, which will help to endow our GLBTAA Scholarship Program. Since 2005, we have granted 39 scholarships (28 academic scholarships and 11 emergency scholarships) to IU students. Because of your generous support, we will be able to continue providing scholarships well into the future.
Our Campaign is getting increased attention from institutional donors, including community and family foundations. The following are comments from two explaining their reasoning for their support.
Gilana's Fund in Muskegon, Michigan was established in 2007, and "celebrates and encourages educational programming promoting acceptance and understanding of our communities, each other, and ourselves," says spokesperson David Alpert. The Fund was created after Gilana Alpert, a graduate of Indiana University, passed away at the age of 26 due to a reaction to prescription medications. "Gilana was a pioneer for acceptance in many different areas of her life. From the time she was born she had an openness to accept those around her; she was a compassionate and kind soul who wanted people to open their minds and hearts and understand who they really were. While a Theatre Major at IU, Gilana was an ally and friend to many, and would be the first in line to support the GLBTAA Scholarship Campaign," continues Mr. Alpert.
Our family foundation, Ove W Jorgensen Foundation in Fort Wayne, Indiana "is proud to support the GLBTAA Scholarship Program in cultivating the next generation of leaders who are not only academically strong but also who promote diversity, tolerance and understanding," explains Jane Jorgensen, BS '72 (Education), IU Foundation Board Director and Founding Member of the Women's Philanthropy Council. "We also want to lend support in this Campaign to those IU students who are tragically disowned by their parents when they make the brave decision to live their lives openly and honestly."
Contributions can be made online at:
http://alumni.indiana.edu/affiliates/glbt/supporting-community/index.html
If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Shumate at [email protected] or 858-922-6105; or IUAA Alumni Relations Officer Jennifer Gentry at 800-824-3044. Again, heartfelt gratitude to everyone for supporting our Campaign.
THANK YOU, IU alumni, faculty, staff, students, allies and our many friends!
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2. Tribute to David Satcher
 | | Bill Yarber (left), Dr. Satcher and Jeanne White Ginder |
David Satcher, MD, PhD, 16th U.S. Surgeon General, was presented the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award at the 20th anniversary celebration of IU's Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention (RCAP) on April 17, 2014. Dr. William L. Yarber, RCAP senior director and Jeanne White Ginder, Ryan White's mother, presented the award in recognition of Dr. Satcher's outstanding contributions as Surgeon General to advancing sexual health and promoting AIDS/STD prevention.
In 2001, Dr. Satcher released the report, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior. "This report was the first government recognition of the importance of a sexual health framework to enhance population health in the United States," Dr. Yarber said. Yarber continued by stating that "Dr. Satcher showed extraordinary vision and exceptional courage, commitment and strength in championing the development of this landmark report."
The report was enthusiastically acclaimed by the chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians as an overdue paradigm shift and widely praised by sexual health professionals throughout the United States. However, the report was criticized by some political groups for providing information beyond abstinence and for being too permissive toward homosexuality and condom distribution in schools. Despite the criticism, Dr. Satcher remained in the Surgeon General's office and was allowed to retire with his four-star grade of Admiral. Yarber was a member of a collaborative group of 130 persons representing 90 organizations that made recommendations for the conceptual framework of the report.
Prior recipients of the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award include former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD; Otis Bowen, MD, former Governor of Indiana and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Jeanne White Ginder.
At the celebration, the RCAP Honor Award to recognize persons who have made special contributions to AIDS/STD prevention was presented to: Doris and Robert Fox of Bloomington; Susan Dreisbach, RCAP co-director emeritus of Denver, Colorado; and Doug Wasitis, IU Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations.
Established on March 1, 1994, RCAP is located in the Department of Applied Health Science of the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington and is the only center in the nation that solely focuses on AIDS/STD prevention in rural communities.
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3. GLBT Office
We receive numerous requests for information about the IU GLBT Student Support Services Office ("Office") on the Bloomington campus. The Office has provided a "home away from home" and rendered critically important services to our students for 20 years. We are only too pleased to pass along information about the GLBT Office and its countless good deeds. We intend to post this and related information in future Newsletters periodically.
The GLBT Office website is: www.indiana.edu/~glbt . As you move from its home page, you'll want to click on "About Us" to become acquainted with some of the amazing people, who work in the Office. Also click on "Programs" and "Resources" to review the various services and resources the Office and community provide on a daily basis. Next click on "Annual Reports" under "About Us", where you'll find a number of Annual Reports. Written in narrative style, you'll learn the stories of the various students, staff, faculty, alumni and parents, who have been associated with the Office over the years. The 2013 Annual Report will give you news of the latest interactions in the Office between students, faculty, staff and alumni. And, please feel free to sign up for the Office's QNews ([email protected]), an e-newsletter that will keep you abreast of the news and activities of our community.
It's an exciting, yet still challenging, time to be advocating for LGBT issues and supporting LGBT individuals. As you peruse these web pages, feel free to e-mail ([email protected]), call the Office (812-855-4252), or drop by and visit when you're in the neighborhood - and see first-hand the extraordinary work being performed by the GLBT Office! The coffee pot is usually on, and personnel will be delighted to share with you some of the positive energy experienced each and every day. Special thanks go to two of our heroes: Doug Bauder, Coordinator, and Jamie Brazel, Office Assistant!
 | | Boug Bauder (left), GLBT Office Coordinator and Mike Shumate, GLBTAA President |
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4. Member Notes
 | | Steve Sanders |
GLBTAA board member and IUB Maurer School of Law professor Steve Sanders has demonstrated through some of his recent scholarly and litigation work how academics can have an impact on the lives of real people.
Steve recently litigated a case in the Indiana Court of Appeals that presented the question: under Indiana's same-sex marriage ban, does a male-female marriage later become void if one of the spouses transitions gender during the marriage? This was a question that had been widely speculated about, but which no appellate court in any state had ever decided. Steve's client was a male-to-female transgender individual challenging a Monroe County judge's ruling that her 1999 marriage had become void when she obtained a legal change of the gender marker on her birth certificate in 2008. In an important decision for transgender rights, the appellate court said such marriages were not affected by Indiana's same-sex marriage ban. The court's opinion and Steve's legal brief are available at http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2013/12/ind_decisions_c_2204.html.
Some of Steve's scholarship has also received attention in federal marriage litigation. When a federal judge ruled in December that Ohio must recognize a same-sex marriage that had been performed in another state, he relied in part on arguments Steve had made in a 2012 Michigan Law Review article. In a footnote to his opinion, U.S. District Judge Timothy Black wrote, "The concept of the right to remain married as a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause is eloquently advanced by Professor Steve Sanders in his article, The Constitutional Right to (Keep Your) Same-Sex Marriage. This judge acknowledges significant reliance upon Professor Sanders's learned (and more extended) analysis of the fundamental right to remain married." Links to the court's opinion and Steve's article are available at http://viewpoints.iu.edu/policy-briefings/2014/01/08/ohio-marriage-decision-relies-on-iu-law-professors-work/
Steve has also organized or spoken at a number of recent events at IU and beyond. Earlier this year he debated the question "What Is Marriage?" at an event sponsored by Maurer's chapter of the Federalist Society. In February, he was part of a Maurer panel discussion for Black History Month titled "Race, Sexuality, and Movements for Civil Rights." Beyond IU, he recently spoke in a program at Butler University on "Faith and Academic Freedom in Higher Education," and presented a paper at the University of Wisconsin Law School looking ahead to how the U.S. Supreme Court should deal with the issue of same-sex marriage.
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5. Facebook
The GLBTAA has had a Facebook page for some time now, but some of you may not be aware of it. If you haven't already done so, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/iuglbtaa. "Like" our page and then you will automatically get our Facebook posts regarding news, updates and information of our events.
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6. Circle City IN Pride
The Circle City IN Pride Parade will be held on Saturday, June 14, starting at 10:00 a.m. The GLBTAA once again will have a booth to welcome all who wish to share in the celebration of this spectacular parade and related activities. We will also be spreading the word about IU's "five stars" as one of the top LGBT-friendly universities and colleges in the nation. Hope to see you downtown Indy on June 14! The entire preceding week is full of fun LGBT-related events. For more information, please see: http://www.circlecityinpride.org/
 | | Some volunteers at our 2013 Indy Pride Booth |
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7. Did You Know?
Please note that the Newsletter Review Board does not endorse, or necessarily agree with, the various topics reported from time to time in this Did You Know paragraph. Rather, the Review Board chooses to report on topics that it feels are newsworthy and may have an interest to our members. Often, but not always, there is a nexus or connection to Indiana University.
~ The disparate rates at which schools suspend and expel African-American students and those with disabilities drive up the dropout risks for these already academically vulnerable students and help propel them into the juvenile justice system, according to a new set of reports that take a sweeping look at discipline practices across the nation's public schools. Likewise, Latino students, girls of color, and LGBT students also are disproportionately kicked out of classrooms for bad behavior. The findings were released recently by the Discipline Disparities Research to Practice Collaborative, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Foundation, a national effort bringing together key researchers, educators, and policymakers to increase research, policy and practice attention to disproportionality in discipline. The findings were released after reviewing dozens of research studies on the discipline practices in public schools and data collected by the U.S. Department of Education on suspension and expulsion rates for the 2009-10 school year. "The differences in rates of discipline among groups of students can't be explained by higher rates of misbehavior or poverty", said Russell Skiba, PhD, the Director of the collaborative project and a professor at IU's School of Psychology. To read more, Click Here.
~ The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit on March 14, challenging Indiana's current marriage law. This is the third lawsuit filed against the state's marriage law. David Orentlicher, professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, said it's not if, but more a matter of when same-sex marriages will be recognized. "The reality is things have changed," Professor Orentlicher said. "The Supreme Court didn't decide the question about the constitutional right for same-sex marriage, but they did strike down the Federal Defense of Marriage Act." He said that as more states pass legislation with varying degrees of same-sex marriage recognition, it increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court may someday recognize same-sex unions on a federal level.
http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/aclu-sues-state-re-same-sex-marriage/Content?oid=2786069#UycU5JVOV2a
~ Here is a link to a New York Times article discussing Truvada, a FDA-approved drug that might prevent HIV infection:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/health/a-resisted-pill-to-prevent-hiv.html?_r=0
~ In one of its recent RAP Time, a monthly bulletin that summarizes current research concerning HIV/STD, particularly in rural settings, the IU Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention reported that 76% of persons living with HIV are men, and 69% of the males were gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
http://www.indiana.edu/~aida/raptimes/Vol17_12.pdf
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8. IU East LGBTQS Alliance
On April 14th, 2014, the LGBTQS Alliance at Indiana University East held its 4th Annual Drag Show. Proceeds from the event will help fund Aspire Indiana, a not-for-profit organization that provides a wide range of services, including free HIV testing, in the Richmond area, as well as surrounding counties in central-Indiana . Featured on the cast were the lovely Hope and Amaya Sexton. Mystique Summers also graced the stage for a second year in a row. Appearing for the first time on the IU East stage was Harlee Rainz and Juanna Jaa, as hotspot.
After three sets each, the drag show proved to be a huge success. LGBTQS Alliance member, Courtney Stuart describes her experience; "Putting on the Drag Show was a great experience! Firstly, it was just an overall fun environment." Furthermore, she describes how she felt coordinating the drag show; "This was my first time organizing and producing a drag show, but it will certainly not be the last!" Indeed, this drag show was one of the most successful in terms of student involvement. Jennifer Finney Boylan, professor of English ay Colby College, board member of The Kinsey Institute and internationally recognized author, visited campus the week before to deliver a lecture, "Transgendered Identity and the American Ideal of Equality under the Law." Following Dr. Boylan's appearance, the members of the LGBTQS Alliance put forth extra effort to coordinate its Alliance Week. Each of the members fully contributed to the success of the week and felt a strong sense of solidarity as a club.
Members are already looking forward to coordinating next year's drag show
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9. GLBTAA Scholarships
GLBTAA Academic Scholarships Academic Scholarships are awarded to IU students enrolled at any IU campus, who are academically strong, as well as active in promoting diversity, tolerance and social justice. Scholarships are awarded to students based upon academic achievement, career goals, financial need, leadership experience, community service and extracurricular activities. Involvement in activities promoting diversity and raising awareness of GLBT and related issues on the student's campus or in his or her community is carefully reviewed by the Board. The maximum award for an Academic Scholarship is $1,000 per semester. An individual student may not receive more than $2,000. The deadline for the Spring 2015 semester is November 15, 2014.
IU GLBTAA Emergency Scholarships
Emergency Scholarships are awarded to those students who experience the loss of financial support when they make the courageous decision to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity to their families. Emergency Scholarships help to ensure that students need not choose between their education at IU and living life openly and honestly. Emergency Scholarships are awarded to students attending any IU campus. The maximum award for an Emergency Scholarship is $1,500 per semester, and a student may not receive more than $3,000.
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10. Membership
Encourage your friends to join the GLBTAA. They can visit our website here and join. There are no membership dues, and you do not have to be a member of the IUAA, or an IU degree-holder. We are approaching 1,600 members nation-wide, and we're growing! We appreciate your continued commitment! It is because of you that the GLBTAA is in existence, continues to grow and continues to serve our important mission on all eight of IU's campuses. If you are a member and wish to continue receiving our e-Newsletters, please make sure we have a current e-mail address for you. You can visit https://alumni.indiana.edu/my-iu/index.html to see if your official record, including your e-mail address, is current. Thank you for your support through your membership. We look forward to serving you now and in the years to come. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jennifer Gentry, Alumni Relations Officer, at: [email protected] or Mike Shumate at [email protected] .
If not already a member, please consider joining the IUAA by visiting https://alumni.indiana.edu/membership/index.html, by [email protected] or calling (800) 824-3044. By joining the IUAA, among many other things, you help fund the various GLBTAA programs, along with gaining access to IUAA member-only events.
If you would like to unsubscribe and terminate future communications from the GLBTAA, please respond to: [email protected].
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